Speaker: Dr Tamar Ashkenazi
Director of the Israeli National Transplant Centre.
Dr Ashkenazi is a registered nurse, and undertook her doctoral research at Tel Aviv University, presenting a thesis about adaption to loss. She has held her current position for 23 years.
She established the network of national transplant coordinators and dedicated ICU physicians in all Israeli hospitals; the ongoing process of quality control for organ donation; and developed unique process dedicated to accompanying and supporting families of organ donors. She moderates grief support groups for bereaved organ donor families and published a book – “Mourning – the day after”, proposing a variety of practical ways to cope with various situations over time after donation – associated bereavement with combined input of parents, brothers and children who have experienced bereavement.
In her talk Dr Ashkenazi will introduce us to her remarkable work and also talk about how she has developed the Israeli live donation system which includes an international kidney pair programme between pairs who do not have a match.
You can watch a recording of the event here.
Speaker: Danny Morris, Senior Research and Policy Analyst, Research Division, Community Security Trust (CST)
Danny works at the CST, an organisation that is probably known in principle to most attendees. Likewise, we are probably all aware that the Jewish community in general has faced antisemitic challenges recently, and this has spilled over into medical circles – including workplaces and medical schools. Difficult aspects of this include the lack of recognition that antisemitism is a form of racism, and the use of social media as a vehicle for it.
Danny will discuss the latest spike in antisemitism, the work CST has been doing to tackle it and offering advice and guidance on what to do if you find yourself subject to antisemitism. Danny will also explore some of the antisemitic themes and narratives that have developed in relation to the Coronavirus pandemic, as well as the subsequent vaccination programme. There will be a chance for questions and discussion at the end of the presentation.
You can view a recording of the webinar here.
Professor of Paediatric Immunology and Infectious Diseases,University of Southampton; Director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Southampton Clinical Research Facility; Clinical Director of the Wessex Local Clinical Research Network and a NIHR Senior Investigator.
Saul leads the NIHR Wessex COVID-19 vaccine programme and is UK CI and local PI for multiple COVID-19 vaccine trials in adults and children. During the COVID-19 pandemic Saul has also chaired the RECOVERY trial paediatric working group and been a member of the NIHR Urgent Public Health Group and NIHR vaccine trial chief investigator group.
In his talk Saul will explain the UK COVID-19 vaccine trial programme so far, and discuss key research questions that will be addressed by trials in the spring and summer 2021.
You can view a recording of the event here.
Speaker: Prof Sherry Glied, Ph.D., (Dean and Professor of Public Service, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University)
Sherry is an economist by training. Before she took up her current post she was professor of health policy and management at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. She served as Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the Department of Health and Human Services during the Obama Administration. Earlier she was Senior Economist for health and labor market policy at the Council of Economic Advisers under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Prof Glied’s main areas of research are health policy reform and mental health care policy. She is co-editor (with Peter C. Smith) of The Oxford Handbook of Health Economics, (OUP, 2011).
This talk will review the status of the US healthcare system before COVID and discuss what we’ve learned about how that system works and doesn’t work through the pandemic experience.
You can watch a recording of the event here.
Speaker: Dr Beverley Jacobson (Chief Executive, Norwood)
Dr Jacobson is a medical doctor who became a management consultant before entering the world of charity and special needs. She graduated MB ChB from Witswatersrand University in 1990, and MBA from London Business School in 1994; worked for Monitor Company (1994- 1996); and was then CEO of Kisharon (2008-2018: , CEO Norwood 2018 to before took up her present position. In her talk she will tell us about her journey to Norwood and about the impact of Covid.
You can watch a recording of the event here.
Speaker: Prof Orly Manor, [Braun School of Public Health, Hebrew University (HU) and Hadassah; Chairwoman of the Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research (INIHPR)]
Prof Manor, former Director of the Braun School, studied statistics at the HU and did her PhD at Stockholm University. She developed the Israel National Program for Quality Indicators in Community Healthcare, and founded the Israel Longitudinal Mortality Studies. Her research interests include quality of care, health inequalities, the developmental origin of adult disease and methodological issues associated with longitudinal studies. She has received the HU Rector’s award for outstanding faculty member and has been visiting professor in many institutions including Stockholm University and Geneva University Hospital.
INIHPR is a framework for advancing health policy, promoting and funding research on health services, their quality, effectiveness and cost. It has created platforms for public discussion about decision-making processes in the health system encouraging interdisciplinary and international scientific cooperation. It is a distinctive neutral meeting ground where all actors – health management organizations (Kupot Cholim), hospitals, the Ministry of Health and academia – meet and discuss issues about health policy decisions and actions. Prof Manor will explain the role of INIHPR, and will illustrate some of its unique features using Covid19 challenges as examples.
You can view a recording of the event here.
Speaker: Jason Strelitz, Director of Public Health, London Borough of Newham
Jason has worked for Newham Council as Director of Public Health since April 2019. He has worked in public health since 2009, having worked previously in social policy on issues of poverty and social exclusion. His PhD is from the LSE, and he has worked in both government and campaigning organisations. Jason lives in Finchley with his wife Mandy and kids Matti and Tami
In his talk he will:
• tell the story of the Covid 19 pandemic through the lens of one particularly impacted place: the London Borough of Newham
• reflect why and in what ways Newham has been affected – in particular how Covid has shone a spotlight on longstanding social and health inequalities
• consider some of the immediate challenges and the lessons we are trying to learn for the future
You can watch a recording of the event here.
Speaker: Prof Eyal Leshem
Director, Institute for Travel and Tropical Medicine, Sheba Medical Centre; and Clinical Associate Professor, Tel Aviv University Medical School
Prof Eyal Leshem studied medicine at the Technion, and trained in medicine and infectious diseases at Sheba. After working in Nepal he trained as an EIS officer at the CDC, where he investigated multiple infectious diseases, including MERS, and then worked as a medical epidemiologist in the CDC viral gastroenteritis team, focussing on diarrheal diseases surveillance and rotavirus vaccine impact. He continues to participate in CDC surveillance, and is a consultant to the WHO, assessing vaccine preventable diseases in many countries. He continues to be involved in evaluating both HPV and rotavirus vaccines, and in studies of Dengue, Zika, malaria and travel associated infectious diseases. Recently he has played a leading role in the roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine programme in Israel, and will talk about his experiences, and about the impact and effectiveness of the programme.
You can watch a recording of the event here.
Speaker: Rabbi Edward Reichman, MD
Professor of Emergency Medicine and of Bioethics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York
Edward Reichman is an Attending Physician in the Emergency Department of Montefiore Medical Centre. He received his rabbinic ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University. He teaches, writes and lectures internationally on Jewish medical ethics. His research is devoted to the interface between medical history and Jewish law.
Rabbis across the globe are addressing an array of complex Jewish legal questions spawned by the Covid 19 pandemic. He will discuss the rabbinic responses to pandemic in previous centuries, addressing issues including masking, social distancing, modified prayers and mourning. This current pandemic is unprecedented in many ways, but there are striking commonalities with issues faced in the past.
You can watch a recording of the event here.
Speaker: Dr Brooke Vandermolen
Obstetrics and Gynaecology Registrar, Barnet Hospital
Brooke Vandermolen studied medicine at University College London and is now specialising in obstetrics and gynaecology. She blogs about women’s health issues. She will speak about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s health, and about the innovative ways of communicating that are evolving in healthcare.
You can watch a recording of the event here.
